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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spells &amp; Karma" data-source="post: 351652" data-attributes="member: 23">This was most definitely the case as the first series continued and I got to know the different faces who made up the students. Just like the Fenn Street gang in Please Sir!, what had seemed at first to be a slightly uninteresting group of amateurs has proved to be a gem of an ensemble that works well and is fun to watch.All the pieces fit, and even those I'd viewed as the weak links are proving invaluable. Possibly the best example of this is Juan, whom I cited as a least-favourite student when I first started watching. My opinion on the character hasn't changed because of a drastic improvement in the quality of performance or writing, but because it's clear that he's embracing the role and the chemistry with other players is great. Barry Evans has come close to corpsing during a few of Mr Brown's scenes with Juan, so it looks as though he finds Ricardo Montez a hoot to work with.On this subject, there have been a couple of small moments where I couldn't tell whether Barry was ad-libbing or making what was written seem fresh and spontaneous. Either way, I'm impressed with him as an actor. He impressed me even more having watched him in a sequence where he imagined himself as Sidney the caretaker's son dressed in punk rocker style with a cockney accent. He was unrecognisable.The "peripheral" players from beyond the classroom , such as Sid and Gladys the tea lady have become welcome fixtures. Zara Nutley as Miss Courtney remains solid and everything just works.Even though I watched the first episode of Series Two back-to-back with the final episode of Series One, I could really feel the difference and it got across that new school year feeling well. As in the first episode of Series One, we spent the entire first episode meeting the new students who mostly turned out to be the old students who had all failed their exams (as set up at the end of Series One). I found it interesting that while the first series felt quite wintry, the second series seems to take place around summer, with everyone in short sleeves and with tans and haircuts and whatnot. Even the backdrop outside the window is now light instead of dark, which suggests long evenings. I assume this is deliberate, and it's quite a nice touch to give it a literal "new season" feel.I realised how comfortable the series had become for me when students arriving for the new year decided to occupy different seating positions. It threw me off almost as much as it did some of the less adventurous students.There are some new faces this time round, with Inga the Swedish au pair and Zoltan the Hungarian guy. If my eyesight isn't deceiving me, the slightly revised opening titles suggest there may be even more new faces to come. Unless there was a change of plan after they were re-done.</blockquote>

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